Noncount nouns often refer to a whole or a mass made up of small particles or items.

sugar

salt

white sand

new furniture

homework

good news

equipment

money

expensive clothing

Noncount nouns are often weather phenomena, fields of study, raw materials, abstractions, or sports and pastimes.

rain

economics

gold

happiness

respect

soccer

hot weather

psychology

hard coal

luck

satisfaction

cards

Note:Cards can be a noncount noun meaning a game of cards, or it can be a count noun meaning individual cards.

The following noncount nouns are often mistakenly used as plural count nouns:

Incorrect: furnitures/ advices/ homeworks/ equipments/ informations.

Correct: furniture/ advice/ homework/ equipment/ information.

2. Comparing Noncount and Count Nouns

Noncount nouns are like count nouns in certain ways.

Noncount nouns act like singular and plural count nouns.

Like singular and plural count nouns, noncount nouns may have certain determiners in front of them, such as the definite article the or the possessive adjectives my and your.

Possessive adjectives have the same forms in front of all three types of nouns: singular count nouns, plural count nouns, and noncount nouns.

You can use this and that with singular count nouns and noncount nouns; these and those can appear in front of plural count nouns only.

Singular Count Nouns

Plural Count Nouns

Noncount Nouns

Determiner

Example of noun

Determiner

Example of noun

Determiner

Example of noun

the

car

the

cars

the

traffic

an

apple

–

apples

–

fruit

my, your

vegetable

my, your

vegetables

my, your

rice

his, her, its

job

his, her, its

jobs

his, her, its

work

our, their

job

our, their

jobs

our, their

work

this, that

cat

this, that

cats

Noncount nouns act like plural count nouns. Like plural count nouns, noncount nouns may be preceded by determiners and certain expressions of quantity, or they may appear alone.

In the chart below, the determiners before plural count nouns and noncount nouns are the same.

Singular Count Nouns

Plural Count Nouns

Noncount Nouns

Determiner

Example of noun

Determiner

Example of noun

Determiner

Example of noun

a

taxi

–

taxis

–

traffic

the

taxi

the

taxis

the

traffic

one

taxi

some

taxis

some

traffic

a lot of

taxis

a lot of

traffic

enough

taxis

enough

traffic

plenty of

taxis

plenty of

traffic

Incorrect: Let’s get taxi.

Correct: Let’s get a taxi.

Remember that singular count nouns must have an article or determiner.

Some taxis have air conditioning.

There aren’t enough taxis in this city.

Taxis are more comfortable than buses.

There will be some traffic on the highway tonight.

There is plenty of traffic on that narrow road.

Traffic is always heavy on weekends.

Exercise: Read each sentence and underline the correct choice(s) in parentheses. The first one has been done for you.

Studying for the Law

Henry is studying at Harvard University; he’s going to become (lawyer / a lawyer). (A law / Law) is a difficult subject. It requires (a concentration / a lot of concentration). (A lawyer / Lawyers) study in law school for three years. After law school, the graduates have to take (a difficult examination / difficult examination). (Some graduates / Some graduate) pass this examination, but others don’t. (A little graduates / A few graduates) take the examination a second or even a third time. (Some people / A people) say that there aren’t (enough good lawyer / enough good lawyers). Others say that there aren’t (many good lawyers / many good lawyer). (Some lawyers / A lawyers) feel satisfied with (a work / their work). (This lawyers / These lawyers) have clearly chosen the right profession. At the end of each day, (satisfaction / satisfactions) with one’s work is extremely important.

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